


Lessons in Unplanned Parenthood

by Fangirl_Shenanigans



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child!Ardyn, Exprimental Story, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-02 16:36:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_Shenanigans/pseuds/Fangirl_Shenanigans
Summary: Aranea never asked to spontaneously be a 'not-mother' to a five-year-old trouble magnet after the Dawn was brought to Eos.





	1. "Trouble, Trouble, Trouble with a Capital T"

**Author's Note:**

> This story is more of an experiment than anything. I wrote this at 1:29AM while feeling miserably sick. So I decided: Spontaneous five-year-old Ardyn story with Maw Maw Cindy and 'not mom' Aranea with Chocobros.
> 
> Note: Noct is sent back to govern Lucis, the symbolism of his sacrifice appeasing the prophecy. Ardyn will be explained if I get off my but and post chapter 2.
> 
> Story takes place approximately three months after the Dawn itself is restored.
> 
> Short chapter is short.

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape for form own Final Fantasy XV except as a playable PS4 game in my collection. This madness was written for entertainment purposes only.**

* * *

 

Aranea Highwind sighed as she tugged on the red toddler leash that kept her young charge from getting too far away from her, reminding the boy not to go too far while she was cleaning her weapon. The small redhead had just turned up on her doorstep one night and she couldn’t find anyone willing to take him in so he sort of became hers. Aranea wouldn’t call him her son though, she refused to have a kid she’d known as a grown man refer to her as mother. Cindy had been a little less successful and was already labeled Maw Maw by the five-year-old menace as they had dubbed him.

Not even two weeks in their custody and the boy had managed to get into trouble on several occasions, the most recent of which having been wandering into the Weaverwilds unattended and almost being eaten by sabertusks. At that point Aranea had made a toddler leash and harness out of old dog collars and leashes and so far it held.

“Birdie!”

Looking up Aranea saw that there were four chocobos headed their way, likely from the restoration work on Insomnia to seek supplies until she noticed who was riding the birds: Noctis and his friends. Part of her screamed to hide the red-headed child from the man who had slain his original form while another part of her could care less. The lack of concern over his fate terrified her and then she heard the worst possible sound: the leash snapping.

 


	2. What's in a name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aranea learns an important lesson about keeping your kids at arm's length and the chocobros get acquainted with Cindy's little redhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ardyn can still heal others, but only when he has brief glimpses of what tattered remains of his life there are. This is also because powers once willingly given could not be taken back. The side-effect will be that he's exhausted for the rest of the day after doing so.
> 
> This will make sense at the end of the chapter.

Tiny teetering footsteps and giggling was soon replaced by squawking chocobos, a startled shout and a childish scream that bled into heaving sobs. Aranea didn’t realize she’d moved until she was taking the crying child into her arms, checking him over for any external injuries while ignoring the panicked and bewildered eyes on her and the boy.

“I-is he okay?”

Aranea looked up to regard Prompto, who looked ready to cry likely having been the owner of the shout. Looking over the still bawling mess in her arms she found the child’s knees were scraped up pretty badly but nothing that unusual for children’s mishaps and sighed with relief finally deciding to just let the child cry into her shoulder as tiny arms wrapped around her neck. Standing up she properly regarded them.

“Kid’ll be fine, just some scraped knees. I knew I should have made that leash stronger. How’s Gloria?”

“Gloria’s fine. You sure he’s just scraped up? I didn’t see him until he was right up under her feet.” Prompto replied, worried he may have actually hurt the small boy in Aranea’s arms then it hit him like a brick.

“Wait…when the heck did you have time to have a baby let alone a five-year-old?”

Aranea glowered and had to bite down a snappy ‘he ain’t mine’ remember the last time she’d openly rejected the notion in front of the child. Kid didn’t stop crying until Cindy told him he could call her Maw Maw and just held him. Aranea loved Cindy, but this kid…too many memories of what he’d once been like.

“Kid just sort of fell into my life a few weeks ago. Doesn’t say much for his age either so a lot of it is guess work.”

Noct took one look at the toddler and felt the magic coursing in his veins as he took in the features the boy held with a knowing gaze: untamed curls of wine and the eyes of Lucis Caelum. Noct’s silent prayer had been answered: Ardyn given another life as recompense for the fate dealt to him unfairly, a chance for a tattered soul to be made whole so he could truly remember what peace even was. It hadn’t been his plan for Ardyn to end up in Hammerhead though, he had actually hoped the Astrals would have left the former Accursed with himself.

“Ardyn, are you okay?”

Aranea froze; she had long avoided calling the boy by the name she knew belonged to him for fear he’d shift into the conniving man she knew as the chancellor. Aranea hadn’t been fond of him at all but he did prove to be a pretty good employer at the time.

Aranea noticed the boy’s sobs died down to soft whimpers before the child turned to look at the King conflicted, hurt and scared. Setting the toddler down, she watched as the child started crying again and ran on unsteady legs to Noct and buried his face against his knees and then she realized: by keeping the boy at arm’s length she had been doing him harm.

“What on Eos happened out here?”

“Ardyn decided he wanted to pet Gloria and got caught under her feet. It looks like he just got scraped up though.” Noctis answered the blond as he gently scooped up the crying boy in his arms, noticing that he automatically reached for Cindy as she approached.

“Maw Maw…hurts!”

Cindy took the redhead into her arms and took a better look at his scraped knees and frowned at how deep some of them were before beckoning them to follow her into the garage as she grabbed the first-aid kit.

“I was startin’ to wonder if I’d ever get his name. Nothin’ I gave him was sticking so he’s just been ‘kid’ or ‘sweetie’. Come give me a hand Prince, just need ya to hold his legs still.”

Noct was actually pleased that she didn’t say ‘King’. ‘Prince’ felt like an in-joke among friends. Gently he sat down with Ardyn on his lap hand gently framing the child’s knees as Cindy disinfected and bandaged them up. It was also a relief to see that at least Cindy seemed to know how she felt around Ardyn. Aranea…seemed torn between giving in to liking him and not caring at all. Ardyn, well he clearly saw nothing wrong with how she treated him. Actually Noct was sure the boy didn’t even realize he’d nearly been trapped for that matter.

“So, ya’ll here for the parts ya ordered?”

“Actually, this was a social visit. We needed a break and thought we’d come visit you two. So, about how long have you had Ardyn?” Ignis voiced, almost sad he could not actually see the boy in question. Part of him wanted to see what this child actually looked like if just to erase the memory of the Accursed. Small hands tugging on his trousers distracted him and he shifted his head down to acknowledge the owner wanted his attention.

“About two weeks now. Just showed up on the porch one day laughing and playing with a local kitten. Aranea tried to get rid of him the first few days but no one else felt like takin’ him in and then I decided he was mine and she could deal. Why don’t you try pickin’ him up handsome, he likes being up high.”

Ignis nodded and gently lowered his hands and smiles when he felt the small child walk closer and grip his forearms letting him know he was there. Ardyn was fairly light in his hand as he lifted him up to his chest, soft curls ghosting against his scarred face as two tiny hands pressed faintly over the man’s right eye and he felt it: a pulse of magic and a pull of magic and pain as he closed the eye when he registered an onslaught of sensation returning to the eye least damaged by the Lucii.


	3. Intermission ART

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Art for a flashback chapter in the works

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also on my tumblr @artistic-fangirl-shenanigans

**Author's Note:**

> This was pure self-indulgence.
> 
> Q. Why does Ardyn act younger than 5 and does he have as speech problem?  
>  A. Ardyn acts younger because all of his memories were claimed by the Starscourge to such a degree that the Astrals had to remove all remaining memories save his name and the connections that meant most to his soul. Ardyn cannot speak properly because of the trauma caused when his soul was condensed and almost shredded to give form to the current Ardyn.
> 
> Q. Will there be other relationships? Are you taking ideas for the story?  
> A. There will likely be other ships as the story goes on (if it goes on). If you have ideas, sure throw 'em at me and we'll see.


End file.
